100% of true FACT
People you wouldn't have thought were Canadian #3: Pamela Anderson.
The word 'ale' derives from the Proto-Indo-European root '*alut-', which carries connotations of sorcery, magic and witchcraft.
The writers of 1994 action film "Speed" at one point considered making the bus driver's a comedy part. Ellen DeGeneres was to play a wise-cracking driving instructor for the deaf.
Christopher Lee volunteered to travel to Finland and fight against the Soviet Union in the Winter War. Admittedly, he was only there for a fortnight and was kept well away from the Russians.
Al Gore is the highest elected American official to run a marathon while serving. He ran the 1997 Marine Corps. marathon in a time of 4:58:25 or eleven minutes, twenty five seconds per mile.
It is illegal, under French law, to throw a dwarf. A court ruled in 1995 that the activity contravened the protection for human dignity enshrined in legislation, after a case brought by a vertically-challenged man who made a living being tossed in bars as an entertaining spectacle. The court rejected his argument that failing to respect his choice of profession was detrimental to his dignity, instead endorsing a more objective view of what is conducive to a life worthy of respect.
The common cravat was introduced to fashionable Parisian society in the 1630s and was inspired by the uniforms of Croatian merceniaries. Their regalia included decorative scarves tied around the neck with various knots. The quality of the fabric usually indicated one's rank, with officers wearing fine linens and silks. The garment is the forerunner of the modern necktie and was introduced into England by Charles II when he returned to the restored throne in 1660.
There is a Design Council time capsule buried in front of Wimbledon College of Art's Foundation building; it will be dug up in 2046. The Wombles were inspired by watching students of this college searching the Common for items to use in their coursework.
Erik Ramgren, a Swedish pensioner, was rescued thirteen miles off the coast of Trinidad on 13 October 2006 after several disasters. He set sail from Stockholm on 31 August 2005 in a homemade catamaran with no flares, radio, echo sounder or keels. He found himself in serious trouble numerous times, running aground off Great Yarmouth, hitting an object in the Bay of Biscay, weathering severe gales during the Atlantic hurricane season, and finally running out of water and hearing voices. He did all this because he liked pictures of tropical islands.
The name "ampersand" for the logogram "&" derives from a corruption of the phrase "and per se and", meaning 'the symbol that, by itself, means "and"'. It was common in the nineteenth century to take it as the last letter of the alphabet refer to it in this manner. The symbol, originally a ligature of the letters in the Latin "et", was included at the end of the alphabet as far back as 1011.
Before 2002, the American version of Cluedo wass the only one found in the Anglosphere where the green piece was not a member of the clergy. He was just "Mr Green", as opposed to "Reverend Green" elsewhere, though he has now been brought into line.
Whale oil is one of the few substances that would still be a liquid in the vacuum of space. That said, sometimes it gets too warm at the British Antarctic research base, so they have to open the windows.
There is a New Amsterdam in French Guiyana, even though that was the original name for New York City. The French must not have renamed it like the English did when taking over the colony; perhaps it happened later and the name had already stuck.
An estimated 150000 tonnes of gold has been extracted in human history, enough to form a twenty metre cube. It seems there should be twenty billion tonnes still buried in the Earth, with another eight tonnes dissolved in the oceans.
People you wouldn't have thought were Canadian #2: Joni Mitchell.
People you wouldn't have thought were Canadian #1: William Shatner.
Cambodia has the only national flag featuring a real building, Angkor Wat; Vatican City and Switzerland have the world's only two square national flags, though the form is common amongst navies and Swiss cantons.
The first Olympic athlete to be disqualified for drug use was Hans-Gunnar Liljenwall, a Swedish pentathlete. He had two beers before the pistol shooting event at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City.
Liederkranz cheese is now extinct. The factory producing it closed in 1985 and the unique bacterial line used to make it was destroyed.
The Malayan Tapir is the only tapir native to Asia. They are found in the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra with adults measuring between 1.8 and 2.4 metres.
Barnard's star, or V2500 Ophiuchi, is the second-nearest solar system to our own, and is around eleven or twelve billion years old. It is moving towards us at 106.8kms-1 and will be our closest celestial neighbour by 11 800 AD. It is a type M star, believed to be relatively dormant, until a massive flare was observed in 1998. Sadly, it cannot be seen with the naked eye as it has a magnitude of just 9.57.
False facts can, bizarrely, exist: they are found in American law.
The Nobel Peace Prize was not awarded in 1948. Gandhi was assassinated two days before nominations closed, and he was likely to have won; The Norwegian Nobel Committee felt that no living candidate was suitable that year.
Troponin is a protein complex conferring calcium sensitivity to muscle cells. It is also a powerful diagnostic tool in detecting damage to heart muscle tissue, as happens during a myocardial infarction.
There is no maximum limit on boxing's heavyweight class.
The world's oldest known securely-dated printed document was made in Korea and dates to 751 AD. It was discovered in 1966 at a temple at Pulguk-sa, east of Kyongju.
Severnaya Zemlya, somewhat north of Siberia, was the last archipelago to be discovered on Earth; it was first charted in 1933.
Most tin cans are actually made of steel.
The Russian word for train station is "vokzal". The first Russians to ever see trains did so at Vauxhall in London, and assumed it was the generic term for that kind of thing.
The thousandth song in the Eurovision Song Contest was "Every Song Is A Cry For Love" by Brian Kennedy.
The slang term "unmentionables", referring to knickers, derives from the fact that only prostitutes used to wear them. They became acceptable with the advent of thinner dress-making fabrics at the beginning of the eighteenth century.
Appleton Tower is not actually a listed building but Teviot Row House is.
Nivedita Bhasin of Indian Airlines became the youngest woman pilot in world civil aviation history to command a jet aircraft on 2 January 1990 at the age of 26.
Uganda has the highest per capita consumption of bananas in the world, while the Irish hold the title for tea. The Andorrans get through the most chewing gum and the Finns drink the most coffee.
Snakes have two willies.